Hundreds of fans of the Athens-based rock band Widespread Panic wait Monday for the doors of the downtown Classic Center to open. The band staged three concerts -- Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights -- in the center's 2,100-seat theater.

Jeff Blake/Photo staff

The hundreds of nomadic followers of the rock band Widespread Panic brought a communal love of music and a free-spirited outlook on life to the Classic City this week.

Some, however, also brought scores of illegal drugs and counterfeit tickets for the three sold-out shows.

Athens-Clarke County authorities arrested 16 people on felony drug charges Saturday and Sunday nights in parking lots near the Classic Center, where Widespread Panic wrapped up its three-night stand Monday night. Most of those arrested -- for allegedly selling the designer drug ecstasy, hallucinogenic mushrooms and nitrous oxide -- were from out of state. Most did not have tickets to the show.

''It's not as much the band they're interested in, it's the market -- the drug culture,'' said Sgt. Mike Hunsinger, commander of the Athens-Clarke Drug and Vice Unit.

Undercover officers with the Athens-Clarke Police Department and Clarke County Sheriff's Department, posing as buyers, made most of their arrests in the East Washington Street parking lot across from the courthouse parking deck. Nine arrests were made Saturday and another seven suspected drug dealers were arrested Sunday.

Jonah Pfeifer, 9 months, of Molalla, Oregon, sticks his tongue out at his mother, Jennifer, in a crowd of Widespread Panic fans on Clayton Street Monday afternoon before the Widespread Panic Concert. Monday evening's concert wrapped up the 3-day concert event.

Rebecca Breyer/Staff

Hunsinger said authorities seized ''several hundred'' hits of ecstasy, as well as several ounces of psilocybin mushrooms and marijuana. A trio from Mississippi was caught selling balloons filled with nitrous oxide -- laughing gas -- from the trunk of their car, Hunsinger said.

''We were there when they opened it up,'' Hunsinger said. ''A crowd just instantly gathered around them. It was really obvious, because they were using bright-colored balloons.''

Officers seized a cylinder nearly full of the gas, which Hunsinger said had to have been stolen, either from a dental office or medical supply company.

On Sunday, a Las Vegas man was arrested on charges of selling ecstacy. Police said they later recovered 400 hits of the drug in the man's shoe.

Not all those arrested have gone peaceably, Hunsinger said. One officer making an arrest was struck over the head with a bottle, and a drug suspect tried to gouge the eyes of another arresting officer. Three unknown suspects also severely beat a man on Clayton Street Sunday night, accusing him of being a ''narc'' -- a police informant. The suspects, one of whom was described as having blond hair in dreadlocks, reportedly put a bag over the 18-year-old victim's head and beat him with a tree limb, breaking his nose.

''For being a bunch of peace-loving individuals, some are extremely violent,'' Hunsinger said.

Dan Benz, 29, has followed bands like Widespread Panic and the Grateful Dead for 10 years, making his living as a vendor. On Monday he was on Washington Street, selling crystals and precious stones.

''I don't want to see the scene get an ugly name,'' Benz, of Madison, Wis., said. He blames the clashes with police on ''a few agro (slang for ''aggressive'') drinking people who show up on tour and ruin it for the people who like it for the music, the festive atmosphere and the traveling.''

''The cops are as nice as they get treated,'' he added.

At the Classic Center, about 50 concertgoers got in Saturday's concert with counterfeit tickets, said Kris Bakowski, Classic Center booking manager. And even while event employees were on the lookout for the bogus tickets Sunday, eight people still got in with counterfeits.

Paul Cramer, manager of the Classic Center, said, ''The problem is when you're handling 2,000 (tickets) at a time, it's easy for one or two of them to slip by.''

Bakowski said it appeared the counterfeits were sold over the Internet. Event officials confiscated about 50 tickets from would-be concertgoers outside the venue's doors. No one was arrested, though Cramer said the Classic Center was working with police to try to track down the source of the fake tickets.

On Sunday, the East Washington Street parking lot was limited to ticketholders, forcing vending operations onto the sidewalk and across North Thomas Street.

Before Monday night's show, hundreds of patchouli-scented ''Spreadheads'' milled about on Washington Street, some with tickets, more with their fingers in the air, looking for a spare.

''We've had no arrests today, just a few citations for open (alcohol) container,'' said Sgt. Willie Smith, an Athens-Clarke bicycle officer patrolling the scene. ''Once you start enforcing these laws, they start moving out.''

''The total amount (of fans) are not a problem,'' Smith said. ''It's just a few. I've had several people walk up to me and say 'Don't judge us by what those other people are doing.' ''

The undercover operation was planned between the police department and sheriff's department to coincide with the concerts. Concerts that draw a counterculture crowd such as Widespread Panic, Phish and the Grateful Dead are known to come under scrutiny from authorities.

''This scene is being focused on, because of the growth rate,'' Benz said. ''I think (police) have at least one meeting where they sit down and say, 'These guys are going to be trouble.'''

''If you don't do something like what we're doing, when the show leaves there's going to be a lot of residual drugs in the community,'' Hunsinger said.

Benz disagrees.

''It's all for our scene -- it's not to turn their local kids onto whatever,'' he said.

Said Cramer, ''The crowd overall has been fine to deal with. They're really good kids, but there's always going to be one or two that are a problem.''